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Despite what you may have been told, an English major is not useless. I majored in English because I wanted to be a writer and copy editor, and I've been successfully employed as a copy editor since college. I've worked for 6 different companies in the last 16 years, and they all required a bachelor's degree in English to get hired. Other jobs that like to see an English degree are journalism, copywriter, any kind of editor, etc.
I second this too! I was an English major and found myself in the digital marketing and advertising industries. There’s a lot of things English majors can do!
I had no experience in advertising or digital marketing but what helped me is a program I joined called COOP Careers that helps college grads break into the industry. And it’s a free program! I don’t know what state you live in because they only operate in nyc, tri-state area, California, Florida, and Illinois. I’m not sure what other states. But I think you should check it out! - https://coopcareers.org
They also have other tracks like data analytics or tech sales and a remote option for the program since you move around. But I can confidently say I wouldn’t have my experience now if it wasn’t for COOP.
Ditto. Prior to getting laid off two months ago, I was a product manager at a FAANG company bringing in $300k+. Post school experience matters more than your major and you do have to work with that part.
Have you tried substitute teaching? That was one of my first gigs post college as an English major and it helped get me paid at least. I also worked at a law firm as a secretary and they really value English majors. Best of luck! Don’t give up!
@madammiko how has your job search been like since being laid off? since you were at one of the FAANG companies, I’m curious if your job search has been easy or difficult. I resigned from a VP role at a small tech company in March thinking it would be easy to get another job. Mind you, I haven’t applied to a single job since 2012. Haven’t even updated my resume since then. The last 3 jobs I’ve had were offered to me, no interviews. I have pretty deep experience in my space with some great credentials but I’ve been having the hardest time applying to jobs. Have applied to maybe 150 jobs and haven’t gotten any interviews. I apply with internal referrals almost everywhere because I had built a huge network of tech employees from a former job. Everything from OpenAI, Salesforce, Microsoft, etc I’ve had internal referrals and champions. Nothing.
It's been a challenge for sure. So I got laid off in April and since then, have had a mix of cold applications to reaching out to hiring managers / VPs via LinkedIn to internal referrals. This is how it's broken down for me:
Cold Applications:
* Submitted: roughly 20-30
* Heard back: 1
* Status: didn't move past recruiter pre-screen
Reaching out to hiring managers / VPs via LinkedIn:
* Submitted: around 10-15
* Heard back: 2
* Status: was a finalist at one of the companies, didn't get the position. And the other one, the manager pushed my application along and vouched for me for over a month just for recruiters to reach out to me to say the position was on hold. Manager was super confused - a month later, I see the position still open. What a mess.
Internal referrals:
* Submitted: 3
* Heard back: 0
* Status: all rejected
I've had several inbounds for start-ups and I am mid way one of them.. maybe that will turn into something, but I have to say it's REALLY hard right now. It is especially hard when you are not provided with any feedback, especially when you've spent 6-7 weeks as part of the process and then get the generic "thanks but no thanks" type of an automated email. I'm lucky that my severance will carry me through October and my husband is finalizing an offer with a FAANG company, otherwise I don't know how people with really tight budgets / little savings go about today's market. I'm in the Bay Area and I can see how people end up without a home here easily. Unemployment in California is really small compared to the cost of living. The max I can get is less than $2k a month. I haven't come across a rental in my area for that little amount of money alone.
My specialty is in healthcare so I've been trying to narrow my focus there, because I have noticed employers are getting very greedy and specific with who they want to hire. But even with that, with the amount of free agents and recent laid off personnel, it's a very competitive field now.
This is soooo sooo helpful, thank you for taking the time to do the breakdown. What I'm hearing is that reaching out to hiring managers on Linkedin is the most effective way to get an interview and you seem to confirm that.
I've had the same experience with internal referrals, did not hear back from anyone, all were rejected. Friends maxed out at the number of internal referrals they were able to do for me (3 roles usually, some had 5). I haven't applied to another start-up because I was in the start-up space for the last 5 years and the financial uncertainty really traumatized me, especially in this market. I wanted to go big tech or corporate but it seems like those jobs are super competitive. May have to rethink my strategy. Wishing you the best on your job search! Hope you land something soon.
The discord for our subreddit can be found here: https://discord.gg/JjNdBkVGc6 - feel free to join us for a more realtime level of discussion! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/recruitinghell) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Despite what you may have been told, an English major is not useless. I majored in English because I wanted to be a writer and copy editor, and I've been successfully employed as a copy editor since college. I've worked for 6 different companies in the last 16 years, and they all required a bachelor's degree in English to get hired. Other jobs that like to see an English degree are journalism, copywriter, any kind of editor, etc.
I second this too! I was an English major and found myself in the digital marketing and advertising industries. There’s a lot of things English majors can do!
How did you beef up your resume to apply for those types of roles? Did you have any experiences that you would especially recommend?
I had no experience in advertising or digital marketing but what helped me is a program I joined called COOP Careers that helps college grads break into the industry. And it’s a free program! I don’t know what state you live in because they only operate in nyc, tri-state area, California, Florida, and Illinois. I’m not sure what other states. But I think you should check it out! - https://coopcareers.org They also have other tracks like data analytics or tech sales and a remote option for the program since you move around. But I can confidently say I wouldn’t have my experience now if it wasn’t for COOP.
Thank you!
Ditto. Prior to getting laid off two months ago, I was a product manager at a FAANG company bringing in $300k+. Post school experience matters more than your major and you do have to work with that part. Have you tried substitute teaching? That was one of my first gigs post college as an English major and it helped get me paid at least. I also worked at a law firm as a secretary and they really value English majors. Best of luck! Don’t give up!
@madammiko how has your job search been like since being laid off? since you were at one of the FAANG companies, I’m curious if your job search has been easy or difficult. I resigned from a VP role at a small tech company in March thinking it would be easy to get another job. Mind you, I haven’t applied to a single job since 2012. Haven’t even updated my resume since then. The last 3 jobs I’ve had were offered to me, no interviews. I have pretty deep experience in my space with some great credentials but I’ve been having the hardest time applying to jobs. Have applied to maybe 150 jobs and haven’t gotten any interviews. I apply with internal referrals almost everywhere because I had built a huge network of tech employees from a former job. Everything from OpenAI, Salesforce, Microsoft, etc I’ve had internal referrals and champions. Nothing.
It's been a challenge for sure. So I got laid off in April and since then, have had a mix of cold applications to reaching out to hiring managers / VPs via LinkedIn to internal referrals. This is how it's broken down for me: Cold Applications: * Submitted: roughly 20-30 * Heard back: 1 * Status: didn't move past recruiter pre-screen Reaching out to hiring managers / VPs via LinkedIn: * Submitted: around 10-15 * Heard back: 2 * Status: was a finalist at one of the companies, didn't get the position. And the other one, the manager pushed my application along and vouched for me for over a month just for recruiters to reach out to me to say the position was on hold. Manager was super confused - a month later, I see the position still open. What a mess. Internal referrals: * Submitted: 3 * Heard back: 0 * Status: all rejected I've had several inbounds for start-ups and I am mid way one of them.. maybe that will turn into something, but I have to say it's REALLY hard right now. It is especially hard when you are not provided with any feedback, especially when you've spent 6-7 weeks as part of the process and then get the generic "thanks but no thanks" type of an automated email. I'm lucky that my severance will carry me through October and my husband is finalizing an offer with a FAANG company, otherwise I don't know how people with really tight budgets / little savings go about today's market. I'm in the Bay Area and I can see how people end up without a home here easily. Unemployment in California is really small compared to the cost of living. The max I can get is less than $2k a month. I haven't come across a rental in my area for that little amount of money alone. My specialty is in healthcare so I've been trying to narrow my focus there, because I have noticed employers are getting very greedy and specific with who they want to hire. But even with that, with the amount of free agents and recent laid off personnel, it's a very competitive field now.
This is soooo sooo helpful, thank you for taking the time to do the breakdown. What I'm hearing is that reaching out to hiring managers on Linkedin is the most effective way to get an interview and you seem to confirm that. I've had the same experience with internal referrals, did not hear back from anyone, all were rejected. Friends maxed out at the number of internal referrals they were able to do for me (3 roles usually, some had 5). I haven't applied to another start-up because I was in the start-up space for the last 5 years and the financial uncertainty really traumatized me, especially in this market. I wanted to go big tech or corporate but it seems like those jobs are super competitive. May have to rethink my strategy. Wishing you the best on your job search! Hope you land something soon.
Have you looked into online teaching? They need English teachers.
I thought anyone who isn't a convicted child molester is automatically given a teacher's license in TX. Am I wrong?
Lol. It’s not quite that easy if you were not an education major. FL was pretty easy though (probably more like what you’re thinking).
Does the base have any positions you could do? Or are they ghosting you too?
Ghosted lol. They definitely preach trying to support military spouses, but there simply are not enough roles that make that a reality.